Chopper-beard

All three of them looked at Dr. Kureha. Dressed in tight black leather, the wrinkles on her face were obvious, yet she still seemed full of vigor.

"It's hard to imagine she's 139 years old." Reiner couldn't help sighing. She looked more alive than he did.

"We're here to see a doctor."

Reiner patted his backside as he got up and motioned for Zoro beside him to speak. "Can you treat his injuries?"

Because of the mountain-climbing contest earlier, Zoro had taken off his only thin garment. His upper body was bare, revealing wounds that spread across his entire body like a vicious centipede crawling over his flesh.

"Who are you people?" Dr. Kureha did not answer directly. She merely asked a simple question, her eyes still somewhat wary.

"We're pirates!" Luffy answered with a grin.

Hearing that, Chopper, who had been hiding behind Dr. Kureha with both arms tightly wrapped around her leg, poked out his little head and looked at them curiously. "The pirates Dr. Hiluluk talked about."

"I can treat him."

After examining them for a while, Dr. Kureha spoke indifferently, the corner of her mouth curling into a teasing smile. "If you can afford my price."

"How much?"

Reiner frowned. He had heard from Dalton that this doctor known as the witch charged outrageously high fees for treatment.

If the price was too high, they could just take Chopper away first and deal with Zoro's injuries afterward.

"Let's see... twenty million Beli!"

So cheap!!!

Reiner froze. No, that wasn't right. Twenty million was definitely not a small amount. It was enough to cover an ordinary family's expenses for many years.

He only reacted that way because he was too rich. Though he thought it was cheap inside, he immediately cursed out loud.

"You old hag! What a rip-off! My partner only has a few minor injuries. Look, he can even climb Drum Mountain with his bare hands! How can you charge twenty million for someone so full of life?"

"Get treated if you want, or get lost if you don't." Dr. Kureha looked impatient. "I said twenty million, so it's twenty million. If you can't pay, stop bothering me."

With an angry expression, Reiner reached into his coat as if he were about to pull out a gun.

Dr. Kureha's face darkened, and several throwing knives slid down from her sleeves.

Kureha gripped the knives, about to throw them.

Kureha froze.

Kureha slowly lowered her hand.

"Twenty million. Get to work."

What Reiner pulled from his coat was a stack of Beli. He made a gesture for her to take it and spoke calmly.

Now that they had gotten this far, she couldn't raise the price again, right?

Kureha: "..."

"Interesting little brat. Come with me."

The three followed Kureha and Chopper into the castle. Zoro received treatment in the operating room, and pig-slaughter-like screams kept ringing out from inside.

In the hall, Reiner and Luffy were trying to lure Chopper away. After learning that they were pirates, Chopper was afraid, but driven by curiosity, he still boldly chatted with the two of them.

"Hey, hey, do you have a pirate flag?" Chopper asked expectantly.

"Hehe, of course we do. I'll draw it for you."

Luffy laughed and immediately grabbed paper and a pen to start drawing. "Here! It looks like this!"

When he unfolded the paper, there was a crooked skull drawn on it, wearing an... emmm, a thing that could barely be called a straw hat. It was impossible to connect it with their pirate flag.

Reiner, leaning against the sofa and drinking tea, said speechlessly, "Luffy, your drawing skills are way too—"

"Whoa! So cool!!"

"Pfft—! What part of that is cool?!"

Reiner spat out his tea. He had not expected Chopper-beard to be this kind of guy. Giving Chopper a strange look, he said, "Still, since you admire pirates so much, why not come out to sea with us?"

"Yeah, yeah, come with us, Chopper." Luffy also invited him with a smile.

The excitement on Chopper's face gradually turned into hesitation. Of course he dreamed of becoming a pirate. Dr. Hiluluk had once been a pirate too, but...

"I can't become a pirate." Chopper looked dejected, his eyes dim.

What held him back was himself.

"Why?"

"Stop asking!" Chopper turned and ran away.

"Strange. Is there such a thing as someone who can't become a pirate?"

Luffy squatted on the chair like a monkey, looking in the direction Chopper had run off with a puzzled expression.

Bang

At that moment, the operating room door opened. Calling it an operating room was a stretch—it was actually just a bedroom. After Wapol left, Kureha had taken over the castle and remodeled it.

"All done. Let him lie down a little longer."

Dr. Kureha clapped her hands and sat down. Picking up the liquor on the table, she leaned back against the sofa and took a huge swig. "You two brats actually tried to abduct my pet while I was gone."

"Hahaha, we got caught." Luffy laughed carelessly after being exposed.

"If you want to take him, go ahead." Kureha did not seem to care, the corner of her mouth lifting teasingly. "As long as you can manage it."

"Sounds like you're quite willing to let him go." Reiner chuckled and casually handed her a cigarette.

"He's always wanted to become a pirate."

"Then why doesn't he go out to sea?"

"Because he's sick. Sick in the heart. Even I can't cure that."

She raised her head and exhaled a ring of smoke. Kureha closed her eyes as though recalling the past and slowly told them about Chopper's history.

"Because he was born with a blue nose, the kid was rejected by his own kind from the moment he was born. He was always left trailing alone behind the reindeer herd, never welcomed.

"Later, he accidentally ate a Devil Fruit and was even attacked as a freak by the reindeer. Covered in wounds, he came to a human village. You've seen what he looks like. The result was obvious—they treated him like a monster.

"Humanity's instinctive fear of the unknown made them unable to accept that monster. Curses, blades, even gunshots—every kind of attempt to drive him away."

Kureha seemed thirsty. She took another huge gulp of liquor before continuing.

"Until that man appeared. Hiluluk—a third-rate doctor with terrible medical skills, an idiot who spent all day trying to invent an All-Purpose Cure and babbling about his dream of making cherry blossoms bloom across this country.

"And yet it was precisely someone like him who saved that monster rejected by both his own kind and humans."

Kureha finished her drink and placed the empty bottle on the finely crafted marble table, speaking with a look of disdain.

"After his adoptive father died, the kid started pestering me, saying he wanted to become a doctor who could cure every illness. What an idiot."

Kureha looked at the two of them seriously. "He's afraid of being hurt again. He closed off his heart and gradually came to believe he really was a monster, so..."

Kureha paused, then teased them, "If you can manage it, then go right ahead."

"Hehehe, I've decided."

Luffy grinned broadly. "I'm definitely going to make him our partner!"

"He'd fit right in. Our ship is full of monsters."

Reiner chuckled as he stood up and rolled up the sleeves of his dark blue shirt. "Let's go, Luffy. I can't wait any longer."

"Hehehe! Operation Capture Chopper, begin!" Luffy shouted excitedly and charged out first.

"Two idiots!"

Watching the two run out, Dr. Kureha spat and opened another bottle of liquor. She truly had no idea how they had managed to live past a hundred.

"Idiots are drawn to idiots, after all."

Her body sank back into the soft sofa cushions as Kureha stared blankly at the ceiling, seeming somewhat forlorn.

"Are you leaving, Chopper?"